I'm mounting a Leupold Mark 4 (6.5-20X50mm) on my Savage 12 F-Class on a steel Picatinny rail, and I'm in the process of assembling everything the way it all feels comfortable, and had a question.

With hunting rifles, I've always liked to really pull my cheek far forward on the stock when shooting, because it feels like a more tight/solid "weld" to me, and it seems like it's more "reproducible" that way, rather than having my cheek "just somewhere" on the cheekpiece such that the eye relief is right.

I'm not sure whether this is considered the best way to do things with a long-range rifle, but it's how I'm trying to set up my Savage 12.

Well, I got my scope where I wanted it, then I figured I should separate the two rings as far as possible, to try to minimize errors/inconsistency caused by the scope flexing or moving in the rings.

So what that meant is that the forward ring is as far forward on the Picatinny rail as it can go ... about an inch forward of where contact between the rail and the receiver ends.

Is this bad, possibly because the rail, and thus the scope, isn't as well supported there?

The rail is steel, but I suspect it moves (at least temporarily) when the gun recoils. Is this a concern?

Is there any reason I shouldn't mount the forward scope ring further forward than the end of the receiver? Is the forward ring "OK" out on that cantilevered extension of the Picatinny rail?

Sorry for the long post but I wasn't sure how to explain it without pictures. Thanks in advance for any replies.